California Pacific Medical Center Offering New Technology to Diagnose and Treat Gastrointestinal Diseases.

SAN FRANCISCO -- First San Francisco Hospital to Introduce Double Balloon Enteroscopy, a Minimally Invasive Procedure Providing More Accurate Diagnosis & Treatment Without Surgery, Resulting in Decreased Hospital Stays and Reduced Healthcare Costs

California Pacific Medical Center's Kenneth Binmoeller, M.D., and Ann Chen, M.D., are now performing Double Balloon Enteroscopy -- a non-surgical procedure that goes beyond the capabilities of capsule endoscopy by allowing more precise examination and enabling treatment of the entire small intestine, the most difficult organ to access in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

According to the American College of Gastroenterology, over 95 million people in the U.S. have digestive disorders, and over 10 million people are hospitalized each year, exceeding 40 billion dollars in health care costs. The small intestine remains the most common site of obscure bleeding when a source can not be identified by upper endoscopy or colonoscopy.

"Upper endoscopy and colonoscopy allow us to see only the two extreme ends of the gastrointestinal tract. The small intestine, which is around 25 feet long, has been the 'blind spot' beyond our reach," says Dr. Binmoeller. "Even the imaging capsule swallowed by a patient provides only random 'snapshots' while traveling through the gut. Double Balloon enteroscopy now changes that. We not only are able to drive an endoscope through the entire small intestine, but can perform treatments to stop bleeding, remove polyps and destroy tumors."

A recent patient Angelica Larmon of Sacramento, Calif., had over a dozen imaging studies, including capsule endoscopy and MRI, to identify the cause of her massive bleeding. "After spending three weeks in the local hospital, every test came back negative and the only feasible alternative was to cut my stomach open," Larmon remembers. "At the age of twenty-five, that was not my favorite solution," she says. "Finally, I was referred to CPMC for the Double Balloon enteroscopy that spared me from surgery and helped doctors come up with a diagnosis and drug treatment."

According to Dr. Chen, the new procedure also enables targeted intervention. "In addition to biopsies, we can perform treatments through removal, injecting or burning off the tissue," Dr. Chen explains.

In addition, Double Balloon provides useful information to surgeons when a surgery of a small bowel is unavoidable. It allows GI doctors mark the problem area with a tattoo in the wall of the intestine to help surgeons find the lesion faster. "To the patients, it means a smaller incision, shorter recovery and less pain," Chen says.

Double Balloon enteroscopy system was developed and manufactured by a Japanese company, Fujinon, Inc., and was approved for patients' care by the Federal Drug Administration in June 2004.

About California Pacific Medical Center 

California Pacific Medical Center, a Sutter Health affiliate, is one of the largest private, not-for-profit teaching medical centers in Northern California. We are a tertiary referral center providing access to leading-edge medicine while delivering the best possible personalized care. CPMC provides a wide variety of services, including acute, post-acute and outpatient hospital care; home care and hospice services; preventive and complementary care; and health education. Through our Medical Education Program and our Research Institute, physicians at California Pacific Medical Center are able to bring health care innovation to the bedside.